114 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



simplest. Dried grasses, a little dead bracken, a 

 fragment of moss, and sometimes a few rootlets, 

 constitute its outer portion and foundations ; for 

 the lining is reserved finer dried grasses, and now 

 and then a few withered leaves and fine rootlets. 

 Sometimes strands of horsehair are employed in 

 the lining, but many nests, lining and all, are 

 entirely composed of dried grass. In the founda- 

 tions of one example I found a piece of rabbit's 



' fleck," in another a few flakes of wool. Usually 

 the nest is rather bulky, albeit somewhat firmly 

 wedged into its site, nor is it particularly neat. 

 Specimens placed in very exposed positions are not 

 only the smallest, but also the most compact. An 

 average nest is 5 in. across externally, with an 



'egg-cup" 2^ in. or Sin. in diameter by 2 in. 

 in depth. 



Although the Wood-Lark always rears two, 

 and often three, broods in the season each one, of 

 course, in a fresh nest it is not a very prolific 

 bird, seeing that three or four eggs one often 

 being addled form the normal clutch. A " five ' 

 is uncommon, a "six " very rare. Occasionally, I 

 have found two only, though in these cases I sus- 

 pect some accident to at least a third egg. Many 

 first " sets ' laid during the boisterous days of 

 March are deserted : I have several times seen 

 heavy snow drifted right over a nest I already 

 knew of ; while, in any case, the mortality amongst 

 the young must be very severe, since little or no 



